Why International Festival of Ibn Battuta is a big event?

This world is a land of fairs, feast days and festivals. This world is the land of diversity and different communities that belong to different races, cultures, and traditions. Therefore many festivals are repeatedly celebrated every year.

The Second Edition of The International Festival of Ibn Battuta with this year’ theme “Travelers, The Ambassadors of Peace” designed to disrupt, inspire and unveil the most significant event that people look forward to. This festival is not just about celebration but in fact filled with profound significance. The International Festival of Ibn Battuta is to promote peace through travel and to honor the extraordinary character of Ibn Battuta playing an vital role to improve our human structure on our social lives, connect us with our families and backgrounds and give us inspiration to live with his legendary characters, his humility, and respect for others.

This is also an excellent opportunity to pass the legends, knowledge, cultures, and traditions onto the younger and next generations as most of the new generation travelers are millennials, all are avid and experienced travelers who use their time off for personal growth whether spiritual, physical, intellectual, traditional or cultural.

This will surprise the travelers’ world on the 9th – 12th November 2017.

As the festival will bring together people from international travel communities to engage in different meaningful discoveries, some International performers, artist, musicians, speakers, backpackers, bloggers, authors and festivalgoers from inside and outside the travel sphere will gather in Tangier, Morocco to commemorate the legendary journey and to honor the world’s greatest traveler of premodern time, Ibn Battuta and to continue keeping his legacy alive. Highlighting the legacy of renowned traveler Ibn Battuta, the Festival has been organized to celebrate Morocco’s rich culture and heritage, promote travel, and engage people from different parts of the world. Inspired by the great Ibn Battuta, his journey, and his special character: Travel is the language of peace.

Characteristics of Ibn Battuta traveling

A Muslim scholar from Morocco named Muhammad Ibn e Battuta was a great traveler. He started his journey for almost 30 years and went on the excursions that are called Rihla. The travel included almost the whole Islamic world as well as the Indian and Chinese subcontinent. After this entire traveling, he came back to the homeland of Morocco and provided the details of his complete journey to Ibn Juzay.

Achievement

He is the only traveler who is famous for visiting every land of Muslim ruler at his given time. The most significant of these places are Byzantium, Ceylon (Sri Lanka at present), South Russia and China. The overall traveling distance covered by him was almost 75,000 miles. This was the area that was not covered by any other traveler by that time. He spent his whole life traveling and made a valuable contribution to the world of traveling.

Start of journey

He started his journey by setting out for Makah to perform Haj. He was a Muslim and to perform religious duties he left his home. It took almost one year to reach Saudi Arabia. The journey included the visit to Tunis, Palestine, Algiers, Syria, and Egypt and then towards Makah. There he spent three years of his life and then started off for Yemen through the sea. After making a long journey to Aden and East Africa, he subsequently went to Oman and then makes a pilgrimage towards Makah again in the year 1332. This travel included the countries of Bahrain, Hormuz, Yamama, and Siraf.

Visit India

He made a plan to visit India but due to the unavailability of the ship, he could not execute it. After that, he visited Cairo, Syria, and Palestine. After visiting Asia Minor named Aleya through the journey of Sea, he traveled through Sinope and Anatolia. Afterward, making a visit to the black sea and passing through the south of Ukraine, he entered Constantinople.

Leaving loved ones

He dedicated his whole life to only traveling and fought his desire to visit the loved ones. This is a practice not followed by most of the people. People travel but also give time to their family. Ibn e Battuta was a dedicated traveler who found peace only in traveling. His first pilgrimage was from the year 1325 to 1354 that make up the total of almost 30 years. This was the long period for which he abandoned his whole family and parents.

Book

The book written by him was Rihla that described all the details of his traveling. In Arabic language, Rihla indicated “journey” and “traveling” to different parts of the world. This is because the book included the details about his wandering around from country to country. This is provided as a gift to the people who wander in cities. He visited all these places to get knowledge in his fields of interest. This book was a great contribution to the field of traveling because it was the start of travel diaries and is considered to be among the very first travel journals. Mostly it is believed that he came back to his homeland and provided all the details to his friend Ibn Juzey. Then his friend completed all these details to make a final form of Rihla. This is the gift for the people traveling the world, and at that time it was considered to be the only book comprehensively containing all the information about a maximum number of countries.

Knowledge gained by this traveling

Ibn e Battuta was not only the traveler but also a scientist, researcher, and chemist who had the desire to know about the details of the things he had interest. He made a lot of research in the field of medicine and made a considerable addition to that literature also. All the aspects of nature, history, politics, customs, geography, and personality were covered in it. The Islamic aspects were also covered in his journey because he performed Haj twice during this whole time. He met a lot of people and even had a cultural shock in the western world because of the liberalism practiced by women of the west. He was not very fond of the practiced people followed in the western world.

Coming back to his homeland

At first, after completing the journey of 30 years, he came back to his land in Morocco and spent some time with his family. But this was against his nature; he loved traveling and could not live without it. So, he again set out to visit some areas that were not visited before. When he came back to his homeland, people did not believe that he visited all these places. He provided a comprehensive description of all the places visited by him. The evidence from the early travelers was also provided to him.

Problems in journey

At that time, traveling was not an easy task to do. There were not many facilities, and it took a lot of time to complete the journey. He was also attacked by some of the serious diseases. Many diseases were also transmitted during this whole time that leads to serious illnesses. Once he was even trapped on a ship for many days, with a lot of effort, he succeeded to escape and then came back to rescue his companions.

Death

After coming back to his home and completing Rihla, he was employed as a judge in the local court that was his family duty. After serving his duty for some years, he died in the year 1368. He was then buried in Morocco. Rihla also contains some of the information from the 14th century that was edited after his death. He was without any doubt the best traveler who made a lot of efforts to provide this world with something as meaningful as Rihla.

Amazing Ibn Battuta stories

Ibn Battuta is one of the greatest travelers of all times. The road of traveling that he started from a pilgrimage turned out to be what he did in his entire life. He traveled the entire world and wrote about what everything he learned and observed. These writings turned out to be a great source of learning for the generations to come. They became a form of stories. The epic tales of Ibn Battuta are still read by million as stories and enjoyed thoroughly. His stories were all about his travels. He noted down every detail about the place he visited. He observed the culture and traditions of that place. Picked up the customs of that area and wrote it as a piece of his travel diaries. There is a great deal to learn from the stories of Ibn Battuta. It gives us a sneak peek inside the history of nations and their historical traditions. Above all his stories are a remarkable way of learning what was in the past.

The Rihla

After completing his travels when Ibn Battuta returned to Morocco, the Sultan listened to everything he had to say. After listening to the accounts of his travels, a new book writing started. Although travel books and pilgrim accounts were quite a famous thing at that time, the Sultan wanted his stories to be written for the amusement of his friends and family. He wanted these people to take a little fun out of the stories from around the world. However, the book later became marvel for the world. Even centuries later these books and stories are read not only for amusement but also for knowledge and learning. Through the stories of Ibn Battuta, we can learn how people from different parts of the world lived centuries ago. We can learn everything about the food they ate, the clothes they wore and the way they went about their everyday lives. Most importantly, the stories written in Rihla are an excellent source of information for travelers. They get to learn the art of traveling and adjusting to diverse environments. It is fascinating for them to read how a traveler from the medieval era with very little facilities manage to travel around the globe and pass through so many different cultures on his way. Nonetheless, Ibn Battuta entertained a lot of people with his stories, which is not hard to believe. Even in this era listening to the tales of someone who had travelled the world is quite fascinating so we can only imagine the goosebumps people got from listening to his stories at a time when there were no traveling facilities whatsoever, camels or horses were the means of travel and it took years to travel from one country to another with food and water resources also insufficient.

Some interesting stories

The stories of Ibn Battuta are filled with little tales from different parts of the world and the encounters he had with different players.

On his arrival in which is now called Multan, a part of Pakistan, he borrowed some money from area’s local moneylenders. From the money, he borrowed he bought some presents for to the Sultan of Delhi. He was setting out to meet him, but before he did, he sent a letter to make them aware of his arrival. It took him fifty-five days to reach Delhi. The note, however, had reached in five days.

Traveling in those times was indeed a difficult task to do. It was not like present times where we can board our cars, planes or ships and reach our destination. In those times traveling from one place to another involved many risks. This is exactly what he experienced on his way to Delhi. He was attacked on his way with a group of infidels. He had to fight his way across them.

Once he met the Sultan of Delhi, he was appointed as a judge by him based on his pious character. Although he landed himself into trouble on having links with a mystic Sufi, he was spared after he fasted and recited the Quran. He also fell prey to an epidemic, which was considered to be fatal, but he survived. After that, the Sultan as his ambassador sent him to China.

It is through the stories of Ibn Battuta that we learn how cruel the Sultan of that time was. He states that a man was fed human excrement forcefully because he refused to eat the food the Sultan sent him after fourteen days of imprisonment. He was later beheaded as well. With such stories, we learn the trends and conditions of the people of that time who belonged to different cultures and traditions.

It is interesting to read is stories when he talks about Damascus, which was under Muslim rule at that time. He experienced multiple things that we can learn now. It is also a reason of the remarkable advancement in that area. He states that some endowments there were unbelievable. There were endowments for those who wanted to travel to Makkah or those who were sick, for those girls who were getting married and could of afford the expenses and even for the travelers.

Even his description of the roads of Damascus, which he states had pavements for pedestrians even at that time, is quite interesting to learn.

The stories of Ibn Battuta are filled with such tales about numerous countries, their cultures and traditions and their rulers. One can learn a great deal with what he tells his stories. His stories are a great account of the history and comparative cultural studies. His journey gives us all something to learn.

How are volunteers contributing to making Ibn Battuta Festival a successful Event?

Your volunteer journey begins at the Second Edition of International Festival of Ibn Battuta: “Travelers, the Ambassadors of Peace: where you can be a part of the world’s leading festival featuring the exciting range of cultural, musical, carnival, conferences, forums and exhibitions and much more to promote peace.

Volunteering is about giving, contributing, and helping other individuals and the community at large. It is working with others to make a meaningful contribution towards a successful event.

People volunteer for an endless variety of reasons. Many people want to gain experience, acquire new skills, meet new people, or expand their network of contacts as a way to get a new job or start a career. Others just want to give back to their community, to help a friend or promote a worthwhile activity. They do it because it makes them feel good.

Volunteers who would like to share their time and motivation to help out with a variety of roles like: Front of the house / Tour guide volunteers /Hospitality/Ushering, Digital Concierge, Marketing/Group Connections, Public Relations, Community Managers and Social Media Experts, Media / Journalists and Live Bloggers, AV Specialist /Production Manager/Technical and Creative Director, Light and Sound Technicians, Props and Backstage Crew, Costume and Wardrobe Staff, Make up artist and hair stylist, Photographers and Videographers, Peace and Order / Traffic and Crowd Control Volunteers, Logistics, Translators and Interpreters, Exhibit Hall Volunteers, Doctors and Medical Assistants, OVERALL EVENT COORDINATOR, Clean up drive volunteers and many more that will fit into your field of expertise.

Volunteers will undoubtedly have a wonderful time working with the organizers. The Moroccan Association of Ibn Battuta are extremely encouraging everyone to participate in whatever area that interests you to make the most of your volunteer practice by gaining experience, learning and enjoying at the same time.

The First Edition of International Festival of Ibn Battuta

People are quite excited about the second edition of the International festival of Ibn Battuta because the first edition went perfectly. The first edition held from 24th to 26th of February 2017 in the current year mesmerizes every festival goer. The Moroccan Association of Ibn Battuta organizes these festivals to revive the traveling traditions alive. The first International Festival of Ibn Battuta successfully offers a mixture of artistic and live performances about the life of the great traveler. There were lots of interesting activities that took place at that festival. These activities include awarding ceremony, scientific discussion, a musical show and a musical parade. This event ends beautifully and successfully with a mouth-watering dinner. People appreciated this festival and kept throwing positive words about this international festival. Everything about the event was spellbinding which not only highlights the extraordinary journey of Ibn Battuta but also entertain people with a magical music and plays. This event translated his entire journey into amazing activities. Knowing the tradition through some activities is actually the best way to mark an impression. Today, you will find very few people who like reading, so celebrating such event is the ideal way to take people back to the medieval times. That was the first international festival celebrated in Morocco to revive the tradition, some people had less expectation, and they missed the event. That is why those tourists want the organization to celebrate such festival again with some innovative ideas.

The second edition of this international festival is coming with more versatile and mesmerizing activities. They can perfectly hit the digital world with many smart activities. They revealed some activities, but there is still more to it. A person who loves traveling will never miss a chance to learn about the culture and tradition of Morocco.

Ibn Battuta stories are known in every culture. It can be considered a traditional as well as the global event where everyone can enjoy. The learning it brings is unmatchable. Ibn Battuta festival 2nd edition will help in upbringing the real essence of traveling. No one can ignore the true contributions of a legendary Ibn Battuta, so this festival will reflect it with an amazing art exhibition, theatrical plays, carnival, movies and much more. Visit this event and enjoy the world of Ibn Battuta.

About the Organizer

In collaboration with the Moroccan Association of Ibn Battuta and their unconditional commitment, The 2nd Edition of International Festival of Ibn Battuta is being planned and in the process of strategizing on bringing all the creativity with the aim of promoting peace, the wider adaptation of universal values and intercultural understanding. Inspired to continue with more enthusiasm and greater speed to realize the dream where life becomes a celebration and world will become one family.